Tridrakious

This is the first "true sequel" to a Final Fantasy game, it's just too bad it had to be part of Final Fantasy X.

Gameplay: The Gameplay goes back to the Active Time Based combat from IV to IX. So that is a some what of a plus to the game, but after using Final Fantasy X's battle system I did not want to go back. Also I don't really like the Charlie's Angels themed setting.

Graphics: They are a little bit improved from Final Fantasy X, but in some places it actually looks worst. The majority of the game looks awesome, but they had very few CG cut-scenes, which are the star of the Final Fantasy games (at least from VII on up)

Sound: This is a first (main) Final Fantasy game that does not have Nobuo's musical genius, but despite that it is still very good. The biggest blow to the game is the opening cut-ccene's Britney Spears themed song. not the way I want to start off my Final Fantasy adventure. I'm sorry to those that do, but I don't.

The only reason I can say to play this game again is to get everything so you can unlock the 100% ending. There isn't any other reason to play it again. So if you played it once and got everything. You're done with this game for the rest of your life.

I will admit I have not played this game in a long time, but I still remember a lot about it. I know that this game got me deeply into games and Sony related products. When I played this game for the first time I was so taken away I could not believe what I was playing.

Gameplay: This game by todays standards is just another RPG Final Fantasy clone, but back then this game could stand on it own. For me this game can always stand on its own thanks to the combat system. In a previous review of mine on this game, I said it was the first PS1 game I had played. Well that's not true, I've played countless games before this one, but for some reason this game stood out to me back them and it still stands out to me now.

Graphics: Once again by todays standards this game is horrible, but back then this game looked pretty good. Nothing about the graphics was groundbreaking, but they still looked very good for a Playstation 1 game.

Audio: The audio in the game is very well put together. There is a few points when the game seems to not know when to play what song. There was one time during a cut-scene when you are about to fight the 2 Stallion people, the game changed the music 3 different times in about a 4 to 5 second time frame.

Value: Once playing through once you might want to play it again just to play it again. The game is that good.

The Suikoden series has hit a rut on the PS2 and I think it started with Suikoden III (check my reviews). Anyways I'm not going to talk about Suikoden III anymore cause I have erased it from my memory. Suikoden IV brings back some very good things that made the original two great. Those are when you get into arguments with other characters, you can fight with them for a while (only if you stand by your opinion) til you win the argument. The other has a GREAT storyline, with these two things back it gave the Suikoden series a chance to get back on track.

Game play: There is a very noticeable thing in combat is there are only 4 characters instead of 6, which this makes it even harder to choose who you want in your party. Fortunately Konami made the choice to add a very helpful feature. The 3 different  "Boat Parties" makes it a little bit easier to decide who joins and who stays, but it does not add much to the experience of combat. It takes the game about 5 to 10 seconds to switch out the different parties, on top of that you can only switch between the 3 different parties when you are on the Boat, hence the name "Boat Parties". The combo system is a little bit plain there really is no flair to the combo attacks like there was in the other Suikoden titles.

Now the game play outside of battle is also a little plain, none of the places really stand out on there own. The only reason you might tell a few of the places apart is that some are closer to the water than others, other than that they start to feel the same. The BIGGEST thing that made me SO VERY MAD at this game is the travel in between the islands. Any of the ships that you get move TOO slow and I (literary) walked away from the game over to my stereo turned it on, walked back over to the controller pushed the "Auto" command in battle went back over to my stereo found a station, went back to my controller finished the end of the battle, walked away to get some food, came back to push the "Auto" command, went back to get me a drink, came back finished the battle (did this for about 30 minutes) to finally get to were I needed to be. This gets EXTREMELY OLD AND TIRING after the first 2 times. It also becomes a very frustrating and annoying thing to have to do whenever you only stay on an island for about 3 minutes. Now on to the "Army vs. Army" well really "Navy vs. Navy" this is a very refreshing thing after the linear Army vs. Army in Suikoden III. In Suikoden IV it is more of a Chess-like battle, where you need to plan before you attack and if you don't be prepared for the biggest ass kicking you have ever seen.

Graphics: The graphics are not good at all, there are a few (FEW) places were the game looks good, but that does not come along very often. I can't really say anything good in this category. So I will leave this category with this: the graphics are NOT the driving force behind this game.

Sound: There are some very good music in this game, but it could have been better. I think Suikoden III had better music than this game, but that is just me (and this is my review). The battle music in Suikoden IV becomes dull and it blends into the background. Which is a terrible thing for any game. In games like Final Fantasy the battle music changes from time to time and it keeps it interesting, well not in Suikoden IV. I really felt disappointed just by the quality of the music in this game.

WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw is a very good game, because it gets almost everything right. There is a few problems, but most get trumped by some of the best gameplay mechanics in any wrestling game.

Gameplay: In this version of this expansive series the gameplay is almost perfect. Now that is not saying that they have fixed all the problems from previous Smackdown or Raw games, but they have come close. There are the occasional missed or messed up physics.  When running toward your opponent and you are preparing to do a clothesline your opponet will block it as if you were not running at all, instead they would block it like you were just standing right in front of them. This happens with a few others like running and jumping in mid-air or trying to do a running high-knee, but it does not tamper with the overall feel of the wrestling itself.

Graphics: I could not believe just how close they came to getting the wrestlers to look like and feel like their real life counterparts. The graphics are really top notch and much better than the previous games in the series.

Sound: From the crowds to the entrance music everything is done perfectly, but unlike in the real WWE when a wrestlers music goes to a stop they cleverly loop the music together so there is no stop. That does not happen in the game, when playing the music and it gets to the end there is a pause followed by the beginning of the song. It does not hurt the game at all, but it must be said.

Re-playability: Story mode you can go through for about 2 to 3 seasons just fine, but after that you get to the point of "been there done that" and that is not a good thing for a game. Although the Story mode has that problem you can easily play the exhibition matches over and over and over and over again with out it getting old.

The story is very different from what I know from the Breath of Fire world. When I played it I was very interested in what I was about to play & follow. When the game started the story kinda....... clawed out of the gates. I'm not saying it was bad, but the story took a while to get going.

The battle system in Dragon Quarter is very interesting & innovative in the way that if you build up your AP then the more in get to attack in one turn. Which adds some strategy to how you fight. I was just so happy that it was not like every other rpg were you just attack & then that is it. Now when you build up your AP to the maximum then you have to chain the attacks together in I would say 5 to 10 seconds before the combo ends.

When you look at this game you will tell it is cell shaded. Which thats not a bad thing, but I think it would have been better if the chose to do realistic graphics rather than cell shading. There is a few times when the graphics are perfect for the game, but most of the time it is just plain.

Audio: The soundtrack is not perfect, it could have been better. I don't think they chose the right music for this game. It is okay, but okay does not sell a game for me it has to be better than this. I know that comparing this game to Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest is un-fair, but it needs to try to be like that. It really isn't a aci-fi rpg, it is a fantasy rpg, so it needs to be better then what it is.

Ok, I have been waiting to rip this game apart for everyone to see. The game's story (if you can call it a story) revolves around Orphen a sorcerer with an attitude problem. Him and a cast of characters (that are very forgettable) are on a ship going to some island. When a storm comes out of nowhere, during this storm a Leviathan rises out of the ocean & attacks the ship & crew. This is when you get to see the horrible combat system.

Gameplay: The controls our worst then pre-RE4 controls. When a game has worst controls then a Resident Evil game ( all the ones before Resident Evil 4) then it sets a new low in gameplay & that is exactly what this game does. I found myself getting extremely mad at this game during the "battles". Oh in case your wondering it takes about 10 seconds to get into the battle. Once in a battle you then realize that you control Orphen & only Orphen. You have no control over anyone else, which would not be a problem if the ally A.I. was smart. Well guess what it is not smart at all. You could be on the brink of death & they would just continue to attack the enemy. Let me just finish this off with: the gameplay is nothing but CRAP! Now let's move on.

Graphics: No! I have moved on from Crap to horrid unbelieveable shit!  What were the developers on when they were making this? This has got to be the game with the worst graphics on the Ps2. When they talk they move in patterns & their lips don't move yet they speak (more on voice acting later). I really don't know what else to say about the graphics. Let me leave it at that.

Sound: Let's start off with voice acting. What is that coming out of their mouths, why that sounds like CRAP (I would say something else, but I'm trying my best to keep it clean) who did they hire for the voice acting? Who ever they were they need to be shot. Not even criminals should be force to hear this CRAP. Moving on to the soundtrack, AHHHHHHHH! Why did they do this to the game? This game does not need anything else to go against it. I'm out of things to say you can pretty much guess what I will say about the sound. CRAP!!

Verdict: There are two reasons to get this (not both) 1) To place it into a collection or 2) To say you have played the worst game okay, not the worst, but the second worst game in the history of fun.

I bought this game because of the previous games in the series. So I can honestly say that I was disappointed in this game.

The gameplay is what you would expect from a Suikoden game, but I did not like what they did to the "Army vs. Army" battles. It went from a wide open baatlefield to following lines. The same thing can be said when you are traveling between towns/cities in the game. Overall the gameplay is still close to what the first 2 had. I just wish that they made it more like the original two.

I was very disappointed in the graphics for this game. I know it came out in 2003 when the Ps2 still was not being pushed to the limits, but i wanted something more from the graphics. Seeing that Konami had a hand in it I was just expecting something more. There maybe some people out there that like the graphics i did'nt

The audio in the game was very well done. It isn't Final Fantasy caliber, but the sound just flowed with the game & everything in the game. I was very impressed with it.

There is almost no replay value for this game, unless you did not get everyone of the 108 stars of destiny. Other than that there is no reason to play it for a second time.

For a long time I was nervous to write this review of possibly my favorite games of all time. One reason was I wanted to be able to project to you (the readers) just how great this game is. There is so many things that wait right with this game. So let's start off with the gameplay.

Gameplay: The gameplay in Final Fantasy X is very different from what has been around for a long time. From the very first Final Fantasy all the way to Final Fantasy IX (just counting 1-9) was the "traditional" style of combat where you waited for a gauge to fill up before you could have a character make his/her next move. While you wait for your characters gauge's to fill up your enemies can attack you at their own pace. In Final Fantasy X that is not the case, the combat has been slowed way down. In fact it makes it a type of strategy game instead of an RPG, but it still works great. In Final Fantasy X's combat system every move is done by turns (not gauges) & you can see which character is coming up with a slim window in the upper right corner of the screen, you can even see when the enemies next turn is so you can plan ahead of your enemies before they can do anything against you. This helps a lot when fighting against bosses.

Story: The story really revolves around two characters Tidus (or whatever you name him) & Yuna. Tidus is a Blitzball player for the Zanarkand Abes & is the star player & has a pretty strong following. Yuna is a Summoner from Bevelle who lives on the Island of Besaid with her friends/Guardians Lulu, Wakka (also a blitzball player for the Besaid Aurochs, which have not won a game in 10 years) & Kimahri (a Ronso from Mount. Gagazet). Yuna is looking to become the Summoner who defeats Sin with the Final Summoning. Neither people have ever heard of each other until the creature Sin appears Tidus' world & desimates entire city Zanarkand. This event changes both Tidus & Yuna's life forever (they don't meet immediately, but it does not take long for them to meet up) I have heard some people say that the story is hard to follow. Well it isn't as long as you pay attention to the game.

Graphics: Square-Enix proves that they can push systems to their brink. For a game that was released in 2001 Final Fantasy X has breathtaking visuals that no other game in that time period (possibly not even in the year after) could be compared to it. The cinematics are beautifully done & so life-like.

Audio: Uematsu somehow put Rammstein together with the "normal" fantasy music that has become a staple for th Final Fantasy series. Not that I'm complaining, I'm mostly into Country music & I loved it.

Replay: I would say it is very worth replaying over & over again, just to find everything in the game that there is to find & to just play the greatest RPG to come along.